Office workers hired to transfer records to a new computer system at West Easton Borough Hall made a startling discovery earlier this year: The former borough council president hadn't been billed for trash pickup for more than five years.

Kelly Gross, who ran the borough offices until her departure from borough government at the end of last year, last paid a quarterly trash bill in April 2010, according to records lehighvalleylive.com obtained through a Right-to-Know request.

How and why the billing stopped -- trash bills are tied to the borough's quarterly sewer payments -- remain a mystery.

The 51-year-old Gross, who presided over a tumultuous council in recent years, was defeated in the 2015 primary election.

She received a quarterly sewer bill for her apartment in the 200 block of Fifth Street but the trash portion was removed with invoices that went out in July 2010, borough records show.

They remained that way until earlier this year, when officials discovered the trash billing had stopped inexplicably years earlier.

The issue wasn't publicly discussed and was referred to only as "the investigation" in previous borough council meeting minutes this year. That is, until Monday night.

During the public comment portion of borough council's regular meeting, resident Nancy Kutz asked about rumors she had heard that Gross hadn't been billed in five years.

"It's a legal matter and remains a legal matter," solicitor Steve Goudsouzian responded. "It was looked into, brought to the attention of the proper authorities and was remedied. The borough received payments and it's a closed matter."

Kelly Gross denies wrongdoing

In March, Mayor Gerald Gross -- Kelly's father -- wrote a check for $1,804 to cover the 22 quarters that had gone unbilled and unpaid for trash collection. Included in that amount was $220 in late fees, or $10 for each quarter, according to the borough.

Gross said he paid the bill because he owns the two-unit apartment building where his daughter lives. The other unit was billed for sewer and trash during the entire period, Gross said.

Kelly Gross in a prepared statement Tuesday said she did nothing wrong and is proud of the 20 years she served on council.

"Any insinuation that I manipulated the West Easton garbage billing records is completely false. I would never even think of doing such a thing," she said in an email.

"I was not responsible for and never paid the trash bills for the apartment where I live. These bills were mailed to and paid by the property owner. My only involvement was that I may have, on occasion, dropped off the property owner's payment check to the borough office."

Gerald Gross said he was "blindsided" by the lack of billing and wrote a check to cover the missed payments within 30 minutes of first finding out about it in March.

"We had words between us, Kelly and me," he said after Monday night's meeting. "She said she didn't have anything to do with it. I don't know how it happened."

Borough records show the sewer bills for Kelly Gross' apartment since 2010 were paid with checks signed by either Kelly Gross or Georgene Gross, Kelly's mother.

Gerald Gross said his daughter was overwhelmed with duties in the borough office and became a target of new borough council members in recent years intent on forcing her out.

"They've been trying to bury Kelly since the day they came in here," he said. "There's been a lot of political infighting."

D.A. closes investigation

New council President Dan DePaul said how the billing stopped isn't a mystery at all.

It coincides with the time period that DePaul said Kelly Gross assumed control of borough offices after the death of the former borough secretary in 2010.

"That's easy to explain," DePaul said. "Kelly came in and took over the office and had access to everything. That's when she took (the trash bill) off."

The borough solicitor notified council members in a Sept. 2 letter that the district attorney's office was ending its investigation.

In the letter, titled "Investigation of Various Matters Involving Kelly Gross," Goudsouzian wrote: "I have been informed by the district attorney's office that they are using prosecutorial discretion and they will not be filing criminal charges."

On Tuesday, District Attorney John Morganelli said a county detective was assigned to investigate potential misconduct and interviewed Kelly Gross and others.

"She denied manipulating borough records and we were unable to establish that she or anyone else did," Morganelli said.

"In that the bill was paid in full, including interest, and there was no monetary damage to the borough, we exercised discretion in not prosecuting. If someone did this, I can't prove who it was because their system doesn't show it.